


sweet x and x bitter

by lochTenderness (theseourbodies)



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Developing Relationship, Pre-Relationship, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29775075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theseourbodies/pseuds/lochTenderness
Summary: On the airship taking them to find Killua, there's a lot of time to think.
Relationships: Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	sweet x and x bitter

**Author's Note:**

> am I ridiculously proud of that title, ABSOLUTELY

Kurapika hears Leorio before he sees him, his harsh voice cursing softly-- not unusual-- and the immediately worrying smell of smoke.

How his-- how Leorio had managed to get his hands on a match or a lighter was a mystery; they hadn't been out of each other's company since they'd made it to the airship. Kurapika sighs and follows his nose. 

He finds Leorio sitting on a bench in an alcove with glass doors and a sign over the door that says SMOKING, which is certainly what Leorio is attempting with a boxy, flip top lighter and a cigarette clamped between his gritted teeth. Kurapika, grateful that he hasn't found his-- hasn't found Leorio accidentally on fire, can't swallow his little smile as he leans his shoulder against the door jamb.

"What are you doing?"

Leorio doesn't jump, just flicks sharp eyes up to glare at Kurapika, moody. His lower lip pouts out a little; the cigarette, burned at the end but not smouldering, bounces to point up towards Leorio's sharp nose. 

_Cute_ , Kurapika notes idly, carefully swallowing a chuckle. 

"Just trying something," Leorio mutters. "Can't keep the dumb thing lit!" 

Kurapika lets the door slid shut behind him. Either Leorio hasn't yet gotten the cigarette lit at all or the circulation in this room is excellent; the air is clean and comfortable.

"Would you like help?" Kurapika asks his-- asks. They're the only ones here, but he takes his seat beside Leorio instead of on the bench across the way. 

Leorio watches him sit with an expression that would be insulting if Kurapika had in any way been able to prove that he had ever even touched a cigarette, let alone smoked one. Plus he knows by now that the day Leorio wants help is the day that the sun falls out of the sky. Still: there's not harm in asking. 

The cigarette is dangling comically from Leorio's mouth now, and Kurapika is trying to smother his instinct to just snatch it away. He didn't come here to start a fight. He's so focused he almost jumps when Leorio finally says simply, "Sure. Will you hold the lighter?" 

Shocked dumb, Kurapika just stares for a long moment. Grumbling, Leorio waggles the lighter in his face where it flashes dully. "Kurapika!"

"Yeah--yes, alright." Shaking himself, Kurapika fumbles the lighter away from Leorio; it's body hot from Leorio's hand and for a second Kurapika can't help but just hold it in both of his. Needless to say, he's never held a lighter at all, let alone one like this. One corner of the flip top is wavy, as if it had been crumpled and then punched back out again. Through the dings and the shallow scars in the metal body, there's some kind of deliberate carving. He flips the top open-- it's basic enough to understand once he sees the flint wheel. 

He flicks it down experimentally, then again when the flame doesn't catch. 

"A little harder," Leorio says, low, and Kurapika blinks up to see his-- to see Leorio with the cigarette held carefully, not inexpertly, between two fingers, the butt end held a bit away from his mouth. He's watching Kurapika's hands on the lighter; Kurapika refuses to think about why that makes him glad. 

He applies a little more pressure; this time, he's rewarded with a flame. He carefully doesn't thrust it into Leorio's face, but he doesn't realize how close that means he's holding it until Leorio leans in, focused; he sets just the tip of the cigarette to the flame and the butt of the cigarette just between his teeth and draws a slow, steady breath with his mouth pressed shut. 

The stubborn cigarette lights and then smoulders. Kurapika carefully clicks the lighter shut and they settle back against the bench again, a comfortable distance apart while Leorio smokes his prize. 

The ventilation isn't that great, it turns out, but the smoke is sweet. Kurapika finds he doesn't mind it. 

He still has the lighter in hand, he realizes after a second of running the pad of his thumb over the more deliberate scratches on its front. When he peeks down at it, he's not surprised to see an amateur but careful depiction of a two vague snake shapes twined around a rod. 

Grinning, he asks the air, "Is this really something a future doctor should be doing?" 

Leorio laughs a little, coughing into his elbow when it makes the smoke catch in his throat. "Eh, no probably not. But I can't get my hands on those fancy cigars, so this will have to do." He shakes the pack in his free hand gently, grinning. The lit cigarette dangling from his mouth somehow isn't as goofy as it was before. 

Kurapika still hasn't given the lighter back. 

"Cigars?" 

"Yeah, to celebrate! And-- well."

Now Kurapika's curious. It wasn't that the Kurta didn't use tobacco, it was just that it had been rare and harder to come by. His Baba-- he swallows carefully, forcing the image he wants of her over his last memory of her-- had carefully rolled her own cigarettes to keep in a little pouch in her case; she had smoked one a month, smiling toothlessly around their campfire while the smoke leaked from her mouth with her words. That smoke had been tart, and not sweet like this. And he doesn't know the significance of a cigar at all. 

"Well?"

Leorio pulls the cigarette away and carefully blows smoke away from Kurapika, blinking at him. "Cigars, you know, for successes and funerals. I wanted something for both, I guess."

Ah. For the victory and for the dead. The weight of the license carefully tucked into its inner pocket suddenly increases. 

Kurapika looks away first. The sweeter smoke fills the room in gentle waves. The sound of Leorio inhaling and exhaling is nicer now than Kurapika could have ever expected. 

"Can I try it?" He asks, suddenly. The smoke in the air makes him want to tell a story, but it doesn't feel right taking his Baba's role if the words aren't smokey like hers had been. 

Leorio hums, warm. When he pulls the cigarette away from his face, the end still glows dully. "Just want this one?"

 _Yes_ , Kurapika thinks, sure without knowing why it's so important. Silently, he takes it carefully, holding it like Baba-- pinched between his thumb and pointer finger instead of tucked between his middle and ring like Leorio. It's light and warm, a little bent near the end from rough handling. He carefully presses it to his mouth and draws a breath that tastes like smoke and ash. 

He wrinkles his nose and lets the smoke go quickly and stubbornly refusing to cough. Silly, to have expected sweetness. 

"Sorry," Leorio tells him, scratchy voice softer than Kurapika had expected. "Should have warned you it would taste bad." 

Kurapika's mouth curls up, wry. "My fault," he says, waving away Leorio's genuine apology. He passes the lighter back finally; he hopes it's as warm as it had been when it had been passed to him. Kurapika's hands have always been colder than normal. After a second's hesitation, he presses himself sideways, closing the gap between his shoulder and Leorio's.

"Hey," he asks, pressing the smoke out of his mouth with the words. "Can I tell you a story?"

**Author's Note:**

> Consider dropping in on my tumblr for HxH rewatch content: [@theseourbodies](https://mobile.twitter.com/theseourbodies)


End file.
